title: Occurrence of virulence-associated properties in Enterobacter cloacae.
abstract: Enterobacter cloacae is not a primary human pathogen but has been considered to be an important cause of nosocomial infections. Even so, there are almost no reports on its ability to produce recognized virulence-associated properties. In this study, we show that most of the E. cloacae strains examined were resistant to serum bactericidal activity and were able to produce aerobactin and mannose-sensitive hemagglutinin, and all of them could adhere to and invade HEp-2 cells. Since E. cloacae is part of the normal intestinal floras of many individuals, we believe that infectious disease due to endogenous E. cloacae might be a result of both host predisposing factors and the bacterial virulence determinants that we have detected in this survey.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiologia, Imunologia, e Parasitologia, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Keller
authors.forename: M Z
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Pedroso
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ritchmann
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Silva
mesh_terms: D001422:Bacterial Adhesion; D002460:Cell Line; D016972:Enterobacter cloacae / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006384:Hemagglutination; D006801:Humans; D006877:Hydroxamic Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D006877:Hydroxamic Acids; C031819:aerobactin